The special event at Apple park revealed a broad range of new products. However, the most significant announcement was the new Apple desktop computer among all of them. Even though many Apple fans were disappointed that they are still using the M1 chip, many got pumped up for the MAC studio.
Its M1 ultra chipset, paired with a small footprint and tons of useful features, will surely make this new Apple desktop a go-to pick for the producers. But what features will the producers enjoy from the Mac Studio? Well, for years, the engineering team of Apple has been trying to grasp the attention of music producers and sound engineers. And they might have finally done it!
Like video editing, sound production is pretty demanding. It requires tons of resources. And the amount of processing power of the Mac Studio, coupled with 64 GB unified memory, will make it highly capable of processing sound libraries and handling multiple plug-in information. Even if you are using the most demanding mixing software, you will notice little to no hiccups with this system.
You will even find four USB-A and thunderbolt ports. Those will let you connect all of your audio gears without facing any issues. And thanks to the interface handling capacity, something like a MIDI controller should not worry you either. Furthermore, thanks to a pretty large number of USB-A and thunderbolt ports, you might not even need to carry around dongles.
But how will the audiophiles benefit from what the Mac Studio offers? Like the rest of the compact and low-profile computers, you will find a 3.5 mm jack on the front. But this 3.5 mm jack is a little special. Unlike the regular ports, it has the ability to power high-impedance headphones. And that was a feature that was exclusive to Macbook pros.
So, does that mean you will be capable of using 600 Ohm or 300 Ohm headphones at ease? Probably not! Plugging them directly to the Mac Studio might not even power them on correctly. But it will not be an issue for you to get a high level of gain from the 3.5 mm jack that the desktop computer offers.
However, that ability to power high-impedance headphones is not beneficial for HiFi headphones. The same thing will apply to HiFi speakers. With that 3.5 mm jack, you can get a good amount of oomph on your home systems without needing to use any other external DACs. The level of gain that it will offer will probably be more than enough for you.
Images: Apple Website
Slava is a man of mystery and no-one seems to know exactly where he is at any point in time. When he isn't enjoying writing about all things audio and technical he can be found researching his next project of interest. The man never rests.